Enhancing corporate social responsibility: Contract design under information asymmetry

We consider a two-stage supply chain in which a contract manufacturer (CM) sells products through a brand name retailer. The contract manufacturer can invest in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to improve customer perception about the firm and increase demand, while the retailer can influence the demand by exerting marketing efforts. We design optimal contracts for such a supply chain, which faces information asymmetry. The wholesale price contract was developed as the base model to derive insight into the value of information sharing. We examine the impact of CSR cost on CSR commitment and profits. We find that CM׳s CSR cost impacts the CM׳s and the retailer׳s profits differently. Under certain conditions, the CM׳s profit will increase with cost, while that of the retailer is uncertain. We also propose two-part tariff contracts for both the symmetric and asymmetric cases with the aim of maximizing the retailer׳s profit and improving CM׳s commitment to CSR. Finally, numerical experiments are conducted to illustrate and validate the proposed models and provide managerial insights.     

Potentially self-defeating: Group buying in a two-tier supply chain

Retailers have an incentive to cooperate in the form of group buying (GB) when a supplier provides quantity discounts, because wholesale price under GB depends on total purchasing quantity rather than individual purchasing (IP) quantity. Most previous studies on GB focus on the benefits that buyers get but ignore the supplier׳s response to GB. In this paper, we take the supplier׳s response into consideration, and present a game model with a single supplier and two symmetric competing retailers in two systems: the retailers purchase individually, and the retailers group buy. Under a general quantity discount schedule, each system has a unique sub-game perfect equilibrium. The comparison between IP and GB suggests that GB may sabotage the benefits of all members in the supply chain (i.e., the supplier, the retailers, and the consumer). Retailers may hold contradictory attitudes toward GB before and after the publishing of the discount schedule. These insights are shown to be robust for the case when more than two retailers are involved, as well as the case when the supplier enjoys economies of scale based on the order volume. We suggest that a mixed discount schedule may help prevent the potential damage of GB. In addition, with significant economies of scale, the supplier and retailers may be better off under GB. Then GB can be a favorable purchasing strategy.     

中国中长期劳动力供需趋势分析

文章采用Leslie方法预测2015-2050年中国人口总量及其年龄分布结构．据此预测劳动年龄人口的劳动力供给总量,根据经济增长的就业弹性预测劳动力的需求总量,计算劳动力供需缺口。结果表明．劳动力供给和需求总量都呈现减少趋势,供给减少更快,2015年后,劳动力市场将出现供不应求的现象。供需缺口将长期存在并有扩大趋势。面对劳动力市场出现的供需缺口问题,提出了相应的政策建议。     

美国货币政策调整的若干新动向

近年来 ,美国的经济结构和金融结构正在发生变化。随着这些变化的深入 ,美国的货币政策进行了一系列的调整 ,从货币政策目标到货币政策工具、从货币政策结构到货币政策规则等等 ,都在发生和即将发生巨大的变化。这些变化不仅影响美国国内经济的发展 ,而且对世界各国的经济也必将产生深远的影响。     

货币供应量对中国股价影响的实证研究

笔者通过货币政策影响股票价格的实证研究,阐述货币供应量对股票价格的影响,是货币当局与投资人可以借鉴参考的研究之一,对于说明货币供应量是怎样通过货币传导机制而影响股票价格的是有好处的,对于探索股票运行规律有着重要意义,并对政策制定者提出了相应的建议。     

Supply chain performance and economic growth: The impact of COVID-19 disruptions

Reliable supply chains are crucial to the productivity and economic growth of nations. Despite the recognition of its importance, especially brought to the forefront by the challenges of the coronavirus crises, formal research on the contribution of supply chain logistics is less forthcoming. This paper uses data on 130 nations to examine the relative effects of different aspects of supply chain logistics, including overall logistics performance, and the performance of the input and output dimensions of logistics, on economic growth. The results show that improvements in the supply chain logistics performance yield positive growth dividends. Further, the input and output dimensions of logistics performance have positive growth effects, with some quantitative differences. Significantly, the growth impact of logistics performance varies across nations with different growth rates. Implications for public policy and spillovers for COVID-19 initiatives are discussed.     

完善上海国际集装箱堆场行业的对策研究

作为集装箱运输链中重要一环,国际集装箱堆场行业在衔接海陆运输、提高船舶装卸效率、促进现代港口物流发展等方面发挥着重要作用。在上海国际集装箱堆场行业快速发展的同时,由于历史发展、城市规划等诸多原因,呈现出布局规划不甚合理、整体供需矛盾突出、利润空间不断遭受挤压以及部分国际集装箱堆场企业自身管理水平较低、信息化和自动化程度不高、功能服务单一等问题。结合上海国际集装箱堆场行业的发展历程和发展现状,借鉴国内外港口城市发展国际集装箱堆场行业的政策措施,提出完善上海国际集装箱堆场行业的对策措施,促进上海国际集装箱堆场行业的健康稳定发展,进一步提升上海现代港口物流业的发展水平。     

西夏军事后勤供给概论

本文对西夏军粮、武器、马匹的供给情况作了初步探讨 ,概括出其军事后勤供给是由国家、宗族、部落民三级组织系统来实现的。这是西夏军事后勤供给体制最主要的特点 ,与其宗族兵为基础的全民兵役制相适应 ,具有鲜明的优越性 ,适合短期流动作战 ,使国家军事后勤压力经过分解而大为减少 ;也有其弊端 ,不利于旷日持久战 ,更重要的是 ,使宗族家长势力坐大 ,拖住了西夏社会迈向封建化的后腿     

新农村建设中的农村劳动力供求：基于安徽省的研究

本文基于安徽省的研究,得出关于我国新农村建设中的农村劳动力供求的基本结论是:劳动力供给总体上大于劳动力需求;经济增长的速度将成为决定劳动力供求缺口大小的决定性因素;农村地区还存在农村科技人员的劳动力短缺的特征。根据我国新农村建设的实际情况,扩大劳动力需求和解决农村就业问题的关键之举在于,走农村产业化道路,加快农村剩余劳动力的转移就业。与此同时,农村科技人员的短缺问题,也应该引起我们的关注。     

A joint optimal pricing and order quantity model under parameter uncertainty and its practical implementation

We consider a robust optimization model of determining a joint optimal bundle of price and order quantity for a retailer in a two-stage supply chain under uncertainty of parameters in demand and purchase cost functions. Demand is modeled as a decreasing power function of product price, and unit purchase cost is modeled as a decreasing power function of order quantity and demand. While the general form of the power functions are given, it is assumed that parameters defining the two power functions involve a certain degree of uncertainty and their possible values can be characterized by ellipsoids. We show that the robust optimization problem can be transformed into an equivalent convex optimization which can be solved efficiently and effectively using interior-point methods. In addition, we propose a practical implementation of the model, where the stochastic characteristics of parameters are obtained from regression analysis on past sales and production data, and ellipsoidal representations of the parameter uncertainties are obtained based on a combined use of genetic algorithm and Monte Carlo simulation. An illustrative example is provided to demonstrate the model and its implementation.